Please see attached file for instruction and answer the question.
(One of my grandchildren)
GROUP DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT
During this week, please attempt to spend one day without eating any “processed foods.” You might find that this is a difficult exercise. It might be so different from what you normally do that it is too time-consuming or interferes too much in your family and lifestyle.
Just go ahead and give it a try. Below you will find two articles written about processed foods (there are thousands of such articles). They might give you some clues as to what foods are processed and why you would even consider doing such a thing.
In the homework folder, there is also a questionnaire that you will use as a guide during your group discussion. Please keep it in mind as you experience your “unprocessed” day.
INFORMATION ON PROCESSED FOODS
FIRST ARTICLE
Question: What are processed foods?
I am having a hard time understanding what exactly is considered to be "processed food." Do you have a list or something that would help me?
Jen - About.com User
Answer: Processed foods have been altered from their natural state for safety reasons and for convenience. The methods used for processing foods include canning, freezing, refrigeration, dehydration and aseptic processing.
We tend to think of processed foods as bad, but it turns out that many processed foods are not unhealthy. For example, milk would be considered a processed food because it is pasteurized to kill bacteria and homogenized to keep fats from separating. While some people prefer to drink raw milk, most of us should consume the "processed" version we find in our grocery stores.
Another healthy example of food processing is frozen vegetables. While fresh may be best, freezing vegetables preserves vitamins and minerals and makes them convenient to cook and eat all year around. Fruit and vegetable juice is also an example of a healthy processed food. In fact, some orange juice is fortified with calcium to make it even more nutritious.
Of course, there are a lot of processed foods that aren't good for you. Many processed foods are made with trans fats, saturated fats, and large amounts of sodium and sugar. These types of foods should be avoided, or at least eaten sparingly.
Processed foods that may not be as healthy as fresh foods include:
canned foods with lots of sodium
white breads and pastas made with refined white flour, which are not as healthy as those made with whole grains
packaged high-calorie snack foods, like chips and cheese snacks
high-fat convenience foods, like cans of ravioli
frozen fish sticks and frozen dinners
packaged cakes and cookies
boxed meal mixes
sugary breakfast cereals
processed meats
Processed meats might be some of the worst of these foods. Eating these meats may increase your risk of colorectal, kidney and stomach cancer. Processed meats include hot dogs, bologna, sausage, ham and other packaged lunch meats.
These processed foods and prepackaged meals are very convenient and popular. If you do shop for these foods, be sure to look for products that are made with whole grains, low in sodium and calories, and free of trans fats. Make sure you pay attention to serving size, too, and balance out the processed foods you eat with a delicious fresh salad and some whole grain bread.
Sources:
Larsson SC, Wolk A. "Meat consumption and risk of colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis of prospective studies." Int J Cancer. 2006 Dec 1;119(11):2657-64. Faramawi MF, Johnson E, Fry MW, Sall M, Yi Z. "Consumption of different types of meat and the risk of renal cancer: meta-analysis of case-control studies." Cancer Causes Control. 2007 Mar;18(2):125-33. Epub 2007 Jan 22.
Larsson SC, Orsini N, Wolk A. "Processed meat consumption and stomach cancer risk: a meta-analysis." J Natl Cancer Inst. 2006 Aug 2;98(15):1078-87.
SECOND ARTICLE
A stroll down your grocery store's aisles can be a tempting experience. Rows and rows of delicious food all wrapped up in colorful packages, encouraging you to give it a try with catchy names and creative graphics.
Good food, delicious food that's appealing to the eye, and convenient to boot. Anything that yummy has to be nourishing, right?
Processed Foods Aren't Just What You Pick Up At A Drive Thru
The first image that comes to mind for most people when they hear the term "processed food" is a wrapped burger and a sleeve of fries served over a counter at a fast food joint.
But the truth is, the very food you have in your cabinets is processed.
What Exactly Is Processed Food Anyway?
If it's boxed, bagged, canned or jarred and has a list of ingredients on the label, it's processed. Methods used to process foods include:
Canning
Freezing
Refrigeration
Dehydration
Aseptic Processing
Processed foods have been altered from their natural state for "safety" and convenience reasons. And scary as it seems, about 90 percent of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy processed items.1
Food Is Good The Way It Is, Why Process It?
Processed foods are more convenient - that's what it comes down to. It's so much easier to bake a cake by opening up a box, pouring out a dry mix, and adding an egg and some oil than starting from scratch.
Having Jambalaya in five minutes after pouring hot water into a carton makes your prep time for lunch a breeze.
But convenience isn't the only thing you get when you eat processed foods. There's a whole list of ingredients that manufacturers add to2:
Color - It gives your orange soda that neon glow
Stabilize - So your gravy isn't watery
Emulsify - Who says oil and water can't mix?
Bleach - Let's disinfect and deodorize
Texturize - Nothing's worse than soggy cereal...
Soften - It's as if the ice cream was churned twice
Preserve - What if you want to eat the cupcake six months from now?
Sweeten - Sugar is sweet but saccharin and aspartame is sweeter
Hide Odors - Do you really want to smell the fish paste in your instant Pad Thai?
Flavor - Nothing like having the sweet taste of watermelon all year round
How kind of them!
If You Can't Pronounce It, Do You Want To Eat It?
The problem is, most processed foods have a laundry list of ingredients similar to that of a can of paint. It's not as simple as adding a little sugar to canned bisque or lemon juice to a scone mix.
Take a look at the list of ingredients from the strawberry flavoring of a milkshake served at a zip-through restaurant:
Amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamylvalerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl Nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerbate, heliotropin, hydroxphrenyl-2butanone(10% solution to alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbone, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl slicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobulyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, sore rum ether, g-undecalctone, vanillin, and solvent3
Looks delicious, doesn't it? And this is just a small sampling of the SIX THOUSAND chemicals used to process foods.4
That Wouldn't Go In My Body!
By now you might be thinking that you have nothing to worry about because you wouldn't dream of drinking a milkshake let alone anything else from a fast food restaurant.
But this goes far beyond fast food.
What's In Your Cabinet?
A study conducted at UCLA's Center on Everyday Lives of Families videotaped 32 families including their dinner routines for a three-year period. Although 70% of the dinners were home-cooked, most included moderate amounts of packaged food. 5
How many processed foods are you using each day?
Always The Last To Know
The FDA doesn't require food manufacturers to list additives as ingredients that they consider Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS). All the label has to say is "artificial flavor" or "artificial coloring" or (are you sitting down?) "natural".6
Yes, "NATURAL".
A Frozen Fish Stick Never Killed Anybody
Here are just a few reasons you might want to think twice before throwing a jar of Vienna Sausages in your shopping cart:
CANCER - Some synthetic chemicals used in the processed foods industry are known to have carcinogenic properties.
In fact, a seven-year study conducted by the University of Hawaii of almost 200,000 people found that those who ate the most processed meats (hot dogs, bologna) had a 67 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer than those who ate little or no meat products.7
OBESITY - Heavily processed foods are usually higher in sugar, fat and salt, and lower in nutrients and fiber than the raw foods used to create them, making them the perfect choice if you're interested in unhealthy weight gain and water retention.8
According to the World Health Organization, processed foods are to blame for the spike in obesity levels and chronic disease around the world.9
HEART DISEASE - Many processed foods have trans fatty acids (TFA), the dangerous type of fat you don't want in your diet. TFA's give a rise to LDL, the dangerous cholesterol, and squash HDL, the good one.
Harvard recently conducted a study which found that women who avoided high-carb processed foods cut their heart disease risk by 30%.10
And If That's Not Enough To Make You Avoid Processed Foods, Try Swallowing This:
Your taste buds become used to the strong flavors of processed foods and make you want to add more salt or sugar to the natural flavors of whole foods.
Some processed foods are filled with indistinguishable parts and pieces, like snouts, ears and esophagi (yum!).
To make up for the loss of nutrients during processing, synthetic vitamins and minerals are added to "enhance" their nutritional content.
Spending more on processed foods just means spending less on locally grown foods, particularly organic.
Eating a diet high in processed foods can lead to diabetes, and liver overload.
OK, You're Convinced, But What Are Some Options?
You wouldn't be the first person to think eating a natural, wholesome diet with nutrient-dense foods means eating foods that could easily be mistaken for Styrofoam. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Eating food in its natural state (food without ingredients!) is a great reminder for your palate of the clean, crisp tastes of nature. Try just one recipe from the Body Ecology Diet for example, and you'll know that to be true.
Take a look a the list of ingredients of a bowl of homemade carrot ginger soup found in the Body Ecology book versus canned carrot ginger soup - even if it's from your natural grocer - and you'll immediately know which is the better choice.
And The Benefits Are Endless...
The Body Ecology Diet is ideal for anyone interested in moving away from processed foods, toward a diet focused around eating only fresh, wholesome foods as nature created them.
This isn't your brown rice and tofu diet. This is a lifestyle rich in probiotic foods such as cultured vegetables and young coconut kefir to keep your gut flourishing with healthy bacteria and your immune system strong and protective.
At Body Ecology we don't think that a long list of ingredients is a necessarily a bad thing, as long as each ingredient's purpose is to nourish your body. Read the label of our VITALITY SuperGreen and you'll find it's an excellent source of:
Complete, easily assimilated protein
Enzymes
Vitamins
Minerals
Lignans
Essential Fatty Acids
Nucleic Acids
Beneficial Microflora
Not a chemical in the bunch! Sources:
1.) All the Health Risks of Processed Foods – In Just a Few Quick, Convenient Bites, SixWise.com, http://www.sixwise.com/newsletter/05/10//19/all_the_health_risks_of_processed_foods_-- …
2.) You Are What You Eat, Paul Chek, http://www.chekinstitute.com/articles.cfm?select=42
3.) Schiosser E. :Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, New
York, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2001
4.) The Dangers of Preservatives and Additives, Freedom You, http://www.freedomyou.com/nutrition_book/enriched_fortified_synthetic_food.htm
5.) Convenience Foods Save Little Time, Lack Nutrients, Judith Groch, Senior Writer, MedPage Today, http:www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/dh/6368
6.) Convenience Foods Save Little Time, Lack Nutrients, Judith Groch, Senior Writer, MedPage Today, http:www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/dh/6368
7.) All the Health Risks of Processed Foods – In Just a Few Quick, Convenient Bites, SixWise.com, http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/10/19/all_the_health_risks_of processed_foods_--…
8.) Convenience Foods Save Little Time, Lack Nutrients, Judith Groch, Senior Writer, MedPage Today, http:www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/dh/6368
9.) Processed Foods to Blame for Obesity and Chronic Disease, healingsearch.com, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2814253.stm
10.) NewsTarget.com, Women and Processed Foods, http:www.newstarget.com/021039.html
